


Sojourns In An Unmarked Land

by Kemmasandi



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Crossover, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kemmasandi/pseuds/Kemmasandi
Summary: In which Optimus Prime encounters an old acquaintance.





	Sojourns In An Unmarked Land

The gunshot cracks and titanic groaning rumble of the collapsing base died away, and an echoing silence overtook the darkness.

There had been one great pulse of pain, blinding agony as he was crushed beneath the rubble, but that too was fading. Sensation withdrew from his extremities, his systems shutting down in a last-ditch attempt at self-preservation. Optimus knew he was dying.

Again.

The weight of the rubble lessened. The darkness changed; a faint blue glow picked its way out of the distance.

Optimus shuttered his optics and let go of his last resistance. In the darkness behind his optical shutters, the vision remained.

Not Mortilus. Not a god, but a sort of being he recognised.

YOU AGAIN? said the vision.

_I am afraid so,_ thought Optimus.

The being, a little taller than an ordinary human, though this was far from the only feature which set him apart, approached the space where Optimus imagined his outflung hand might be. DEAR ME. WE SEEM TO DO THIS A LOT.

Optimus would have smiled if he had been able to feel his body any more. Everything was floating away, disassembled. It all seemed so without consequence now.

NEVERTHELESS, I MUST PERFORM MY DUTY. Death’s grin, being a skeleton, was rigid and fixed. It was rather like looking at a raw protoform, but the vivid sparks that burned like stars in the skull’s eye sockets went some way toward putting the simile out of mind. WE ARE, AS IT IS SAID, ON A TIGHT SCHEDULE.

He turned. Behind him, suddenly a massive hourglass had always been there. The grains that dropped from the upper bulb glimmered with heat. There were very few of them left.

Optimus dragged the scrambled threads of his mind back into place, a last attempt at priorities. _Is this the last time?_

The last grains dropped. Something snapped inside his head.

Death grinned at him. IT IS ALWAYS THE LAST TIME.

Inside the hourglass, the sand settled into the lower bulb. Then something strange began to happen. More sand, glimmering blue-white like new stars, poured into the upper bulb from nowhere. Optimus felt the yank of continued life from beneath his spark somewhere, bringing him back into the world. Pain returned.  

YET YOURS IS A PARTICULAR GOD, continued Death, as if nothing had taken place. LOVING, TOO, IF THERE IS ANY LOVE IN PROLONGING A LIFE SUCH AS YOURS.

Optimus felt his body cry out with the agony, yet his mind was clear. _Continued life is a continued chance. I am grateful for it._

Death said nothing, but Optimus had the impression he had confused the psychopomp. 

_I cannot abandon my Autobots,_ he said. They are my _clade._

Death began to look translucent around the edges. I AM NO ABANDONMENT, he said, BUT LIFE IS CHANCE INDEED. I WILL BE HERE WHEN YOU HAVE NO FURTHER NEED OF IT.

The black robe faded into the darkness, and his last words echoed within the spaces inside Optimus’ head.

FOR NOW, YOUR AUTOBOTS ARE COMING FOR YOU.

Then there was nothing but his own pain to keep him company.

 


End file.
